Congregations of an Industrious Nature : Churches Find They’re Welcome in Empty Plants

Men in jackets and ties and women wearing subdued dresses stream into the low-slung industrial building in Orange. The half-mile-long street is lined with various small businesses--from engine repair to upholstery, printing to plastics--that are locked and silent on this Sunday morning.

But inside the reinforced concrete building at 1233 Alvarez Ave., 400 men and women belt out hymns that echo through the cavernous 10,000-square-foot structure, nearly drowning out the freight trains that intermittently pass along the tracks at the rear of the building.

It is 10 a.m., and services of the He Lives Faith Center, one of a growing number of fledgling congregations that meet in industrial parks, are under way.

It is unknown exactly how many congregations in Orange County meet in such unconventional surroundings, according to church and government officials. But Gerald Bushore, an Anaheim real estate broker who handles only church properties, said: “Industrial buildings are an attractive option to congregations that can’t afford to buy a church, or build one, because of the high cost of real estate in Orange County. The rent’s cheap, and you don’t have to make extensive improvements.”

Most of these congregations began meeting in rented school buildings, but as their numbers grew, they did what many new businesses do: rented space in an industrial park until able to afford their own building.

More to Follow

And many more congregations, ministers say, will move from cramped quarters into industrial parks as cities change zoning laws to permit such use. Last month, after heated debate, the Anaheim City Council opened up a major industrial park, Canyon Industrial Area, to churches. City planners had objected to the plan, saying that rentals to churches can undermine the purpose of industrial parks: to generate revenue and create jobs.

Just like the He Lives Faith Center, churches that locate in warehouses or industrial parks tend to be nondenominational evangelical Protestant churches. Unlike denominational churches, there is no parent organization that might arrange financing or even subsidize the cost of a new church building, said Pastor Richard Maiden of the South Coast Christian Center. Because of the financial constraints, Maiden’s 200-member congregation chose to locate in an industrial park at 826 W. Katella Ave., Orange.

“There are only five (area) banks and credit unions that will help churches,” said church broker Bushore. “And they require a 40% or 50% down payment. And repayment of the loan at the commercial rate must be made in full within five years.”

An average-size church with 300 members, Bushore said, would need $500,000 to $750,000 to purchase a half-acre to one-acre site containing a traditional sanctuary, parking lot, offices, classrooms and fellowship hall.

“In the seven years since we’ve been handling churches exclusively, I haven’t seen a church sell for under $300,000,” Bushore said.

Added South Coast Center’s Maiden: “Even if a church has 5,000 members, it’s not likely to come up with the $1 million to $2 million needed to build a church.”

Thus, these congregations, many that started only started five to 10 years ago, have sought leased quarters in the county’s relatively cheap industrial buildings.

Rapid Growth

“Churches today that are moving into industrial buildings are growing rapidly,” said Pastor Tom Barkey of He Lives Faith Center. He has seen his congregation grow to 400 since its founding seven years ago.

“You don’t want to build a permanent church because you don’t know how big your congregation will get.

“We’ve got a three-year lease with an option to renew, so we plan to stay here until we outgrow the building. Then, we’ll move into a larger building in another industrial park.” Barkey would not say how much his congregation pays for its space, but brokers say that industrial lease payments range from 15 cents to 39 cents per square foot.

Church members have gotten used to the idea of meeting in such non-traditional surroundings, Barkey said. “When first-time visitors see we’re located in an industrial area, they don’t know what to expect. But once they walk inside and see the interior is just like a traditional church, they relax and accept it.”

Parishioner Sherry Heape, a department store sales executive from Santa Ana, said: “I belonged to a church in Oklahoma that was in an old bank building. I think this is a great location. The businesses are closed on Sunday, and nobody’s around. So, there’s ample parking.”

Barkey said that He Lives Faith Center has spent $80,000 on remodeling to soften the stark appearance. The carpeting and soft chairs are a mellow brown. The walls along the length of the building are gray along the bottom and white at the top. Each wall is hung with Burgundy draperies spaced evenly apart, giving the illusion of windows.

True Character

But a glance at the ceiling shows the building’s true character: wood beams arch beneath gray roofing insulation that is dotted by exposed ceiling vents and fire sprinklers.

A year ago, the church purchased a nearby 7,500-square-foot industrial building to house offices and Sunday school classrooms.

Often, traditional churches or building sites are not available. When the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Anaheim outgrew its temporary home in a high school in 1981, the co-pastor, Sam Thompson, said: “We looked at over 200 building sites in Orange County over the next two years, and we could find nothing to house our congregation. We had 3,000 people then, so we needed 10 acres for parking alone because of zoning requirements. Land was going at $150,000 to $300,000 an acre--and even if we had been willing to pay this price--we found that there was simply no available site large enough for our needs.”

So, three years ago the Vineyard Christian Fellowship moved into a 160,000-square-foot converted warehouse at 333 E. Cerritos Ave., Anaheim. The lease payments are $24,000 a month, Thompson said.

Vineyard’s sanctuary looks like what it is--a converted warehouse. There is no religious art or artifacts, and members sit on folding chairs.

“We decided to make the sanctuary look like this for philosophical reasons,” Thompson said. “We feel that as long as a building is getting the job done, there is no value in making it look better just for aesthetic reasons.

“We’re trying to make a statement that we are pragmatic; we want to attract the 18- to 39-year-old baby boomers. They are anti-institutional and would be turned off by a traditional-looking church.”

Membership Has Doubled

To support this contention, Thompson noted that in the three years Vineyard has been in the converted warehouse, membership has doubled to 6,000.

Christian Life Church said it, too, has doubled its flock since it moved into a building in Orange’s Batavia Glen Business Park four months ago. More than 400 people now worship in the 12,000-square-foot industrial building, which costs the Church of God-affiliated congregation $4,000 a month in rent, said Pastor W. Raymond Pettit.

Christian Life Church, unlike Vineyard Christian Fellowship, has refurbished its interior to look like a traditional house of worship. “About $100,000 and hours of donated labor by church members has been spent remodeling the inside,” Pettit said.

“It doesn’t look like an industrial building inside because we have carpeting, pews, chandeliers and a drop ceiling.”

Cities generally have opposed the location of churches in industrial parks. “Industrial areas are set aside to attract businesses that will put people to work and provide a strong tax base for the city,” said Anaheim Mayor Pro Tem Irv Pickler, who like the other five City Council members, voted for the zoning change but with specific restrictions.

“To allow churches in industrial parks would undermine these goals,” he said. “If industrial buildings are empty because of an oversupply, I see no great problem with allowing churches to locate there on a temporary basis of one to three years. But if churches try to stay in industrial areas on a permanent basis, I believe they will seek to start daytime activities, such as schools. This will aggravate the horrendous traffic problems that already exist in industrial areas.”

Setting Aside Areas

Added Pickler: “The real solution to this problem is for us in city government to work together with developers to make sure that in areas of population growth that property be set aside for schools, parks and churches.”

Churches in industrial buildings do not have to pay property taxes on that portion of their structures used for worship, acknowledged Barkey of He Lives. But he added that the partial exemption does not extend to the portion of the facility used for offices, storage and parking. And he noted that churches are obligated to pay personal property and business taxes.

“We employ as many people as would a light industry,” maintained Barkey, noting that his church has three full-time and six part-time employees.

He said that his church draws members from throughout Orange, southern Los Angeles and Riverside counties and that they patronize restaurants and shopping centers in Orange after Sunday services.

As to the concern that industrial park churches will add to traffic congestion if they start up day activities such as preschools, Barkey said such fears are unfounded.

“It would be unsafe to have a preschool for children in an area like this where heavy machinery and trucks are around during the weekday,” Barkey said. “Further, we would not want to jeopardize our relationships with our business neighbors by adding to traffic congestion.”

No Criticism

A door-to-door canvas one weekday morning of businesses that share Alvarez Avenue with He Lives Faith Center turned up no criticism or opposition.

“We have a good working relationship with the church,” said Nina Eyer, co-owner of Studio Nine, in echoing a common view. The screen printing and commercial art company employs 15 and is directly across the street from the church.

“We do banners and other little jobs for them, and they will do favors for us. They’re fine people.”

From a landlord’s perspective, Harold Lichnecker said, “It’s a strange thing to do . . . having a church in an industrial area, but I didn’t oppose the variance that allowed them to move in there.

“There have been no problems, and there has been no decrease in land values,” continued Lichnecker, who for the past 16 years has owned two buildings in the area. They are leased to Wellington Press, a commercial printer, which allows church parishioners to park in one of its two parking lots on Sunday.

“Sometimes, I’m here on Sundays, and I’ve never seen (congregation members) parked in the lot we’ve asked them not to use,” said Pete Knight, Wellington Press’ chief executive officer. “It’s a free country, and if this is where they want to have a church, it’s fine with me.